The photo in this link, from the Ansa news agency, purports to show the evidence that the Costa Conc

• Costa Concordia hit rocks in January westin hotel las vegas 2012, killing 32 • Finally raising it back to vertical took 19 hours • Read a news report from Lizzy Davies in Giglio westin hotel las vegas Watch a live video stream of the salvage operation • iOS compatible westin hotel las vegas stream • Non-iOS stream
Authorities in Italy have announced the Costa Concordia cruise ship is back upright after a 19-hour operation. The cruise liner hit rocks and tipped on to its side in January 2012 as it was departing the Italian island of Giglio.
The moment of success was heralded by a foghorn westin hotel las vegas that sounded over the port at Giglio shortly after 4am . With the re-emerged hull looming large over the port, Italy's civil protection agency chief, Franco Gabrielli, announced the ship's rotation had reached 65 degrees, meaning westin hotel las vegas the operation was complete.
Franco Porcellacchia, a representative of the ship's owners, Costa Crociere, said: "We completed the parbuckling operation a few minutes ago the way we thought it would happen and the way we hoped it would happen." Porcellacchia said it had been "a perfect operation" with no environmentally damaging spill detected so far.
When the Costa Concordia went down there were 32 people killed westin hotel las vegas . Two of the bodies have never been found and so far in the salvage effort there has been no sign of the remains of Maria Grazia Trecarichi, westin hotel las vegas a Sicilian passenger, and Russel Rebello, an Indian waiter.
At a 4am press briefing in Giglio, with the re-emerged hull looming large over the port, Italy's civil protection agency chief, Franco Gabrielli, was applauded by firefighters as he announced that the ship's westin hotel las vegas rotation had reached 65 degrees, meaning the operation known as parbuckling was finally complete.
A later statement from the project engineers said the wreck was "resting westin hotel las vegas safely" on six platforms that have been built 30 metres below sea level. It will remain there throughout the winter while the salvage operation continues. The island was notified of the news a landmark feat of engineering and big step towards the removal of the Concordia from Tuscan waters in one piece by a foghorn that sounded shortly after 4am and was heard across the port and beyond. westin hotel las vegas The 114,000-tonne ship ran aground off the shore of Giglio on 13 January 2012. Thousands of passengers and crew made it to land safely but 32 people died, including a five-year-old westin hotel las vegas girl. The bodies of two people Maria Grazia Trecarichi, a Sicilian passenger, and Russel Rebello, an Indian waiter have never been found. Their recovery was a priority of the parbuckling but engineers have not yet seen any sign of their remains in the wreck.
westin hotel las vegas In the coming months the team carrying westin hotel las vegas out the salvage operation Titan Salvage from the United States and the Italian engineering company Micoperi will have to examine quite how damaged westin hotel las vegas the starboard side of the ship is in order to decide how to proceed.
Shortly after 4am a foghorn wailed on Giglio Island and the head of Italy's civil protection agency, Franco westin hotel las vegas Gabrielli, announced that the Costa Concordia had reached vertical and that the operation to rotate it known in nautical terms as parbuckling westin hotel las vegas was complete.
"We completed the parbuckling operation a few minutes ago the way we thought it would happen and the way we hoped it would happen," said Franco Porcellacchia, project manager for the Concordia's owner, Costa Crociere SpA.
The operation westin hotel las vegas to right it had been expected to take no more than 12 hours but dragged on after some initial delays with the vast system of steel cables, pulleys and counterweights. The final phase of the rotation went remarkably fast as gravity began to kick in and pull the ship toward its normal position.
The companies and authorities responsible for the "parbuckling project" the operation westin hotel las vegas to right the Costa Concordia have issued the following statement, forwarded by our correspondent Lizzy Davies who is at the scene and putting the story together right now:
Shortly after 4am Tuesday a foghorn rang out on Giglio Island and the head of Italy's Civil Protection agency, Franco Gabrielli, announced westin hotel las vegas that the ship had reached vertical and that the operation to rotate it was complete.
The white and black arrows on the photographs below show how far the Costa Concordia has been lifted. The black arrow shows the position of an upper deck before the salvage operation began, the white as it is in progress. The brown residue on the side of the vessel shows where it was submerged.
If you look at the footage from our live video feed you can see a good section of water-stained boat now on view. The vessel is now tilted at somewhere approaching 45 degrees a long way to go, but steady progress. That said, it is almost 4pm in Italy so the operation will presumably continue long after dark, if not into Tuesday.
US Navy naval architects devised a plan where the superstructure was stripped as far as possible to lighten the ship then watertight bulkheads were fitted internally to form buoyancy chambers. The ship was then pumped out and was allowed to effectively right herself.
How much is the operation costing? According to AP, the bill so far is about 600m (just over 500m). It's being paid by Costa Crociere SpA, the Italian arms of Miami-based Carnival Corp, though insurers westin hotel las vegas will end up absorbing most of it.
The experts say the so-called parbuckling operation, involving dozens of chains and a system of weighted tanks, has completed its most difficult section, and should take the rest of the day to right the ship . It is billed as the most ambitious parbuckling operation ever.
In the comments, a reader notes that as well as the parbuckling of the USS Oklahoma (see 9.25 BST ) the French liner the SS Normandie, marginally longer than the Costa Concordia at 299 metres, was righted in New York harbour in 1943, a year after it capsized westin hotel las vegas following a fire. However, I'm not enough westin hotel las vegas of an expert westin hotel las vegas to say whether westin hotel las vegas this was an equivalent operation it seems the vessel was partly stripped beforehand.
Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's civil protection agency, said that the parbuckling was proceeding "exactly according to predictions". He said: "There is a correspondence between the reality and the projection, and we note this with satisfaction."
Sergio Girotto, the project manager, said that when they started exerting force on the wreck they immediately saw a response in terms of movement. But they couldn't see it becoming dislodged from the rock on which it has been moulded. However, when the force reached 6,000 tonness, the much-anticipated "distacco" westin hotel las vegas detachment took place.
The team has noticed "large deformations" on the starboard side, Girotto said. He did not elaborate, but the extent of the damage on that side of the ship will determine how the salvage attempt proceeds.
From an environmental point of view, for the moment things are looking good, said Gabrielli: "The water is clear at the moment; there are no significant or visible spills. There are no problems but we are absolutely aware that we are really at the beginning."
So, all seems to be proceeding westin hotel las vegas in an orderly fashion. But the team is clearly trying to avoid raising expectations. Quizzed by one journalist, Gabrielli joked that "the first 12 hours are the most dangerous". And "hitches" were still possible, he added.
Two people remain missing after the ship collided with the rocks: Russel Rebello, a 33-year-old waiter from India, and Grazia Trecarichi, from Sicily, who was on board to celebrate her 50th birthday with her 17-year-old daughter, who survived.
The photo in this link, from the Ansa news agency, purports to show the evidence that the Costa Concordia is slowly righting . It shows a small section of the hull, circled in the photo, which seems to have been darkened by immersion in the water, but is now visible.
The engineers are attempting to dislodge the ship from the rock onto which it has moulded itself. In a description westin hotel las vegas issued to the press they say: "This is without doubt one of the most delicate phases of the entire recovery plan and it is hard to say how long it will last because the operation to dislodge the vessel will have to be performed westin hotel las vegas very slowly, striking a balance in terms of the force gradually westin hotel las vegas exerted so that the hull is not placed under high stresses."
The operation has been going on for about 90 minutes now, and as those watching the live stream will spot, there's no sign of movement yet. But this was to be expected the first stage of tightening the dozens of winches around the vessel and starting to ease it off the rocks was always westin hotel las vegas expected to be the most delicate.
AP mentions in its story that the previously biggest parbuckling operation took place in 1943 when the US Navy righted the USS Oklahoma, badly damaged during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, with the loss of 429 of her crew. The battleship was, however, 178 metres westin hotel las vegas long, against 290 metres for the Costa Concordia.
Three hours after they were due to begin, engineers whose plans were delayed by a fierce overnight storm announced they had begun an ambitious process of parbuckling at 9am local time that they hope will result in the 114,000-tonne westin hotel las vegas vessel being brought to rest securely on underwater platforms.
Twenty months after the cruise ship crashed into rocks off the coast of the island of Giglio, causing the deaths of 32 people, project manager Sergio Girotto said steel cables being tightened by hydraulic westin hotel las vegas jacks were exerting a force of 2,000 tons on the Concordia s rusting hull. That would be increased by 200 tons and after each rise engineers would check for movement, he said.
The Italian civil protection agency gave the final go-ahead for the parbuckling on Sunday, saying wind and sea conditions had fallen within the range of operating feasibility . Initial testing, said senior salvage master Nick Sloane, had shown that she [the ship] is ready to move .
The project, which is expected to take between eight and 12 hours, will be nail-biting. Parbuckling is a common means of salvaging wrecked vessels, but it has never been used on one